CURRENT PROJECT
ST JOHN GOD NDONYO SECONDARY SCHOOL
Please help Growing Community Roots complete its second school project of 2024 and raise $42,794 to support St. John God Ndonyo Secondary School.
Current photos of St. John God Ndonyo school students collecting water at nearby water source, current washrooms, and site of proposed garden/tree farm.
SIGNIFICANT NEED IDENTIFIED
The school does not have a permanent source of water. The students walk twice a day to draw water for the school’s daily use from Achune Pond that is about 800 meters away down the slope. This pond also serves the surrounding community members who use it for their domestic consumption and for their livestock. The level of the water drops significantly during the dry season exposing it to contamination because the livestock wade inside to drink. During the drought season, the school purchases waters from River Riwa-Tende which is three kilometers away.
The school currently has a four-door pit latrine for boys, a two-door pit latrine for girls and a two-door pit latrine for teachers. All of them are in poor condition. There are three roof-catchment storage tanks whose capacities are 5,000 liters, 3,000 liters, and 1,000 liters.
The school is requesting funding for a new water catchment system, toilets and bathrooms, a hand washing station, gardening fencing and an incinerator that is now required by the Public Works and Public Health Inspectors so that the toilets do not fill up so quickly with menstrual pads. There is also a requirement for two special-needs toilets, one for boys and one for girls.
BACKGROUND
The St. John God Ndonyo Mixed Secondary School is situated in Kibiri Ward, Katonde Sub-Location, Koyugi Location in Rachuonyo North Sub County. It was established in 2013 by the local community with the support of St. Valentine Catholic Church to provide day secondary education to children from humble background. It is a fully registered Public School with Registration number 43S13000027. It occupies four acres of land. It has an enrollment of 105 students, 66 girls, and 39 boys. The school has 7 teachers (two females and 5 males) employed by the government and three teachers (one female and 2 males) employed by the Board of Management. In total, there are 10 teachers and three support staff (one security worker and two cooks).
With 35 homesteads and a population of over 300 people, the majority of single parents due to the HIV/AIDS scourge and other diseases like cancer. The pupils are mostly left in the hands of grandparents for care or are taken care of by elder siblings who have had to drop out of school to provide an income for their family by motor cycle riding, fishing at Lake Victoria, and other work, or are in secondary schools during the day as students and parents in the evening.
With no proper income opportunities in the surrounding area, the major income for the populace is subsistence farming generating below a dollar per day on average.